Phonographic time-announcer



I. G. BLESSING.

PHONOGRAPHIC TIME ANNOUNCER.

APPLICATION, FILED MAYZI, I917.

1,343,302. f nted June 15, 1920.

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Invent 21'" Jul-m EEZE'ESZE J. a. BLESSING.

PHONOGRAPHIC TIME ANNOUNCER.

APPL| CATION FILED MAY 21. 1917.

1,343,302. PatentedJune 15,1920.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN G. BLESSING, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO AUTOMATIC ELECTRICCOMPANY, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

PHONOGBAPHIC TIME-ANNOUNCER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

1917. Serial No. 170,110.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN G. Bnnssmq, a

.citizen of the United States of America,

and resident of Chicago, Cook county, Illinois, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Phonographlc Time- Announcers, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements 1n phonographic time announcers.and one of the features of my invention is the application of this timeannouncer to an automatic telephone system whereby a subscrlber, byoperating his calling dial, may ascertain the time of day or obtainotherinformation contained on the phonograph record. My device isarranged so as to announce the minute and the hour and to repeat thisannouncement every few seconds'for one minute and then shift to the nextsucceeding minute. In order to reduce the size or number of the recordsrequired to announce the time for twelve or twenty-four hours, I dividethe record into two parts or two sets of grooves. These grooves, insteadof being spiral grooves, as in the ordinary construction, are circular.One set of grooves, of which there are sixty, corresponds to the minutesand contains impressions corresponding to the numbers 1, 2, 3, etc., upto 59, the last groove containing the impression for the word oclock.The other set, of which there are twelve, corresponds to the hours andcontains the impressions for the figures 1 to 12. A separate reproduceris provided for each set of grooves and the two sets of impressions areso arranged that they do not overlap each other, so that by placing onereproducer in engagement with the proper grooves of one group and theother reproucer in the proper groove of the other group, their combinedannouncement may be made to correspond to the hour and minute of theday. Means are provided for moving the reproducer corresponding to theminute group from one groove to the next each minute and for moving thereproducer the hour group from one groove to the next each hour. Whenthe reproducers have reached the last groove, they are automaticallyreturned to a position to engage the 'first groove of the correspondinggroup and thus seventy-two grooves, sixty in one group and twelve 1n theother, are sufiicient to announce any time of day, and each announcementwill be repeated as many times as the cylinder makes revolutions in aminute.

A further feature of my invention is the adaptation of this timeannouncer to an automatic telephone system, whereby any subscriber, bymerely operating his calling dial to transmit the proper series ofimpulses, may establish connection with this time announcer and thusascertain the time of day.

My invention will be more clearly understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which I have illustrated one embodiment of myinvention and may be used in connection with an automatic telephonesystem such, as that shown in application Serial No. 777,677, Patent No.1,227,523, of which application the present application is a division.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a phonographic time announcer embodyingthe principles of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 22 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 in Fig. l.

Fig. 4 is a section taken on line 4-4 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a section taken on line 55 in ig. 6 is a fragmentary view ofthe cams 18 and 22 (Fig. 1) on an enlarged scale, so as to show moreclearly the conformation of their edges.

Fig. 7 is a diagram of the phonographic record.

Before describing the telephone system shown herein, a detaileddescription of the construction of the time announcer will be given.Referring to Fig. 1, there is mounted onthe top of a suitable plate 13 amodified phonograph machine consisting of a frame 14 and cylinder 3, onwhich cylinder is a record with two sets of impressions,

one set comprising a separate impression Patented June 15, 1920.

Serial No. 777,677. Divided and this application filed Kay 21,

side of the plate 13 a small motor 2 connected by means of a belt 5. Thespeed of the motor is governed by a suitable governor 8. Upon a shaft 15there are mounted two carriages 9 and 9 for the purpose of carrying twomicrophone reproducers 11 and 11 back and forth, there being one set ofreproducers for each set of impressions on the record namely, the hourimpressions and the minute impressions. The reproducers are pivotallymounted on carriages by means of the screws 10 and 10 (Figs. 4 and 5) insuch a manner as to allow the reproducers to rest lightly on the record.These reproducers are provided with lugs 11 and 11 which extend over aportion of the edge of the carriages, 9 and 9 so that they may be liftedfrom the record by tipping the carriages backward- The carriages 9 and 9are arranged to slide back and forth independently of each other on theshaft 15, which is preferably hollow, and locatedinside of same are twohelical springs 16 and 17. The purpose of these springs is to return thereproducers to their normal positions. For instance, the hour reproducer11 is returned at the end of twenty-four hours and the minute reproduceris returned at the end of sixty minutes. The reproducer 11 is movedalong the shaft 15 by means of the helical cam 18 against thecompression of the spring 16, while the reproducer 11 is moved alongagainst the pulling tension of the spring 17 by means of the helical cam22, as will hereinafter be more fully described. On the shaft 21 thereis mounted a ratchet wheel 20 (Fig. 2) and adjacent thereto is an arm 23which swings loosely on the shaft 21 and carries near its lower end adriving pawl 26-which enga es with the teeth of the ratchet wheel 20.The lower end of the arm 23 is connected with the plunger 24 of asolenoid 25. Secured to the plunger 24 is a helical spring 38, so thatwhen said plunger is drawn into the solenoid the spring 38 iscompressed. Upon the deenergization of said solenoid, the power storedup in the spring 38 returns the plunger 24 to its normal position. Inthis way the arm 23 may be moved back and forth to rotate the ratchetwheel 20 and shaft 21 with a step-by-step movement. A holding pawl 27 isprovided for the purpose of preventing all backward movement of thewheel 20 when the pawl is being moved back by the plunger 24 to engagewith a new tooth. The plunger is regulated and allowed to be drawn backjust so far by means of a metal disk 29 on the inside of the solenoidand a thumb screw 28, thus allowing the desired amount of clearance atthe pawl 26. The helical cam 22 is mounted on and firmly secured to theshaft 21. This cam increases in height or width around its circumferenceby regular series of rather abrupt steps, as indicated more clearly inFig. 6. On the right-hand end of the carriage 9 is a projection 30 whichis, at the beginning of an hour, at the extreme right of the shaft 15and in contact with the narrow portion of the cam 22. Upon the ratchetwheel 20 being rotated step by step in a manner already described, thecam 22 is also turned a corresponding distance, and as each of the stepsin the cam passes the projection 30 of the carriage 9, said carriage ismoved a slight distance to the right, suflicient to move the reproducer11 to the next impression on the record. During the beginning of eachadvancement of the cam 22, the projection 30 of the cam 9 moves forwarda short distance with the step in the face of the cam, before riding upover it. This forward movement of the projection 30 rocks the carriage30 slightly on the shaft 15, whereby the reproducer is lifted oil therecord before it is moved laterally. Before the cam completes itsmovement, it passes the projection 30, so that when the cam comes torest, the'reproducer drops back onto the record. This lifting of thereproducer while it is being moved lat erally is to prevent thescratching of the record. The cam 22 is provided with fiftynine steps onits surface, so that during one complete revolution of the cam, thereproducer is moved fifty-nine spaces to the left. On the sixtiethadvancement the projection 30' slips off the high part of the cam andthe spring 17 returns the carriage and reproducer to their normalositions. During this return of the carriage, the projection 30 bears onthe guide 31 which is secured to and revolves with the cam 22 and servesto hold the reproducer off the record until it gets back to its normalposition.

The reproducer 11 is moved along the record by the cam18 insubstantially the same manner in which the reproducer 11 is moved by thecam 22, as hereinabove explained. he cam, 18, however, has onlytwenty-three steps on its surface and is adapted to make a completerevolution in twenty-four ste s. The cam 18 is advanced one step on eaccomplete revolution of the shaft 21 in the following manner: At 32-(Figs. 1 and 4) there is seen an arm loosely mounted on the shaft 15 andattached to the bottom of said arm is a pawl 33, together with thespring 34, for the purpose of holding said pawl 33 constantly in contactwith the ratchet wheel 35. The center of the arm 32 is arranged to fitaround the shaft 21, as clearly shown in Fig. 4. The cam 18 is securelyattached to the ratchet wheel 35 and both are mounted loosely on theshaft 21 and therefore do not revolve with the ratchet wheel 20 and theminute cam 22, which are both secured to the shaft 21. There is fastenedto the frame 14 a flat each step-by-step movement of the ratchet wheel20, which latter, it will be remembered, is operated by means of theenergization and deenergizationof the solenoid 25. As

the cam 36 turns it pushes against a pro-v jection 39 on the movable arm32, wh1ch' arm is thereby pressed back against the tension of the spring35* and draws the-pawl 33 back a proportionate distance toward the nexttooth on the ratchet wheel 35. When the highest part of the cam 36'reaches the projection 39, the cam 34 is forced back ,far enough toengage a new tooth of the wheel 35, andwhen the cam completes itsrevolution and the projection 39 slips ofli' the high part of the cam,the arm 32 is returned to its original position by the spring 35, andthe wheel 35 is thereby advanced one step. Both reproducers are normallyheld ofi the record by the engagement of the a tail pieces 47 and 48--ofthe carriages 9 and 9 with the bars 45 and 46, as indicatedinore clearlyin Fig. 5. These bars are carried on the end of the arms 43 and 44 whichare secured to a shaft 42, to which latter is also secured the armature41 of an electromagnet 40 (Fig. 3). By the energization of the magnet40, the shaft'42 is turned slightly to tip the bars 45 and 46 back farenough to permitthe reproducers to drop down onto the record. v

In Fig. 7 there is represented in a more or less diagrammatic form acylindrical record for the time 'announcer described herein, said recordbeing developed into a plain surface. At X is shown the record groovedcorresponding to the hours. These rooves are twelve or twenty-four innumfier, each one comprising the proper im- -pressions for reproducingsome one of the words one, two, three, etc., up to twelve. If thesegrooves are twenty-four in number, the record 1mpress1ons run from oneto twelve and then repeat. This enables each groove to be used onlyduring one hour of the twenty-four, while if only twelve grooves areused, each one would the record. The hour impressionslonthe record allbegin approximately-on a straight have to be used twice during thetwenty-- four 'hours,.thereby decreasingthe life .of-

line w-w across the record andextend only .'about one-third or less ofthe distance around the cylinder. The minute impres- SIQIIS W are sixtyin number, running from one to fifty-nine, the sixtieth being 5" Theminute imlongest impression of the hour group. The

record is placed on the constantly rotating cylinder 3 (Fig. 1), withthe reproducer 11' in position to engage the hour group of impressions Xand the reproducer 11 in position to englage the minute group ofimpressions W. he reproducer 11 is set to engage the particularimpression in the group X the record, the time will be announced onceduring each revolution of the record, the reproducer 11 first announcingthe hour and the reproducerll announcing the minute immediatelythereafter. The cylinder ,is preferably revolved at the rate of fifteenor twenty revolutions per minute, so as to give an announcement everythree or four seconds. The magnet 25 (Fig. 2) is connected with asuitable clock mechanism, which closes the circuit of the magnet onceeach minute to move thereproducer 11 to the next impression. At thebeginning of each hour the reproducer 11 is moved from the fifty-nineimpression to the oclock impression and the reproducer 11 is moved inactual engagement with the record, for,

as has been explained, means have beenpro vided for holding thereproducers' off the record at all times except when an announcement isdesired.

It will thus be seen that I have deviseda very eflicient phonographic"announcer,

and while I have illustrated one specific-emchanges. Thus, while I haveshown the cylinderprovided with two groups of impressionsand tworeproducers in order to record the time of day, it is obvious that therecord might be provided with a separate impression for each minute ofthetwelve hours and only one reproducer employed, which reproducer'would be stepped along onestep announcer, it is, of course, understood thatthis device can be used for imparting any other information, or foradvertising purposes, or, if desired, these features can be combined,as, for example, each groove could contain-a time announcement togetherwith some advertisement, or items of news could each minute and returnedto its'startingoint once in twelve hours. L1kewise,'while', I

have referred 'tobmy. announcer as a time {be interpolated when desired.Likewise,I

do not wish to be limited to the form of telephone system with which Ihave chosen to illustrate my invention, as it is obvious that myinvention is adapted for use in connection with. other forms ofautomatic or semi-automatic systems.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a phonographic announcer, a continuously moving record having aplurality of circular grooves, a stylus adapted to engage said grooves,and automatic means for disengaging said stylus from. one groove andthen shifting the same to the next succeeding groove at predeterminedtime intervals.

2, In a phonographic announcer, a continuously moving record having aplurality of circular grooves, a stylus adapted to engage said grooves,automatic means for shifting said stylus from one groove to another atpredetermined time intervals, and means for automatically returning saidstylus to normal position after it has been moved a predetermined numberof steps.

3. In a phonographic announcer, a continuously moving record having aplurality of circular grooves, a stylus adapted to en- ,gage saidgrooves, automatic means for shifting said stylus from one groove toanother at predetermined time intervals, means for automaticallyreturning said stylus to normal position after it has been moved apredetermined number of steps, and means for holding said stylus out ofengagement with said grooves during said return moVe-' ment.

4. In a phonographic announcer, a record adapted to engage each of saidsets of grooves, means for automatically raising one stylus from one ofsaid grooves and shifting the same laterally to a second groove atpredetermined time intervals, means for returning said stylus to normalposition after it has been moved a predetermined number of steps, andmeans for automatically raising and then shifting said second stylus onestep for each predetermined series of steps of said first stylus.

6. In a phonographic announcer, a record having a series of circulargrooves, a stylus adapted to engage said grooves, a cam, stepby-stepmeans for operating said cam, and means controlled by said cam for firstdisengaging said stylus from said record and then shifting same to thenext succeeding groove at predetermined time intervals.

7 In a phonographic announcer, a record having two sets of circulargrooves, a stylus adapted to engage with the grooves of each set, arotary cam, step-by-step means for operating said cam, means controlledby said cam for first disengaging said stylus from the record and thenshifting the same to another groove at predetermined time intervals, asecond rotary cam adapted to be rotated one step for each completerotation of the first cam, and means controlled by the second cam forfirst disengaging said second stylus from the record and then shiftingthe same to another groove.

8. In a phonographic announcer, a record having a series of circulargrooves, a stylus adapted to engage said grooves, a carriage upon whichsaid stylus is mounted, a circular cam, and means for rotating said camin a step by step manner, said cam having means for engaging saidcarriage so as to rock the same to disengage said stylus from the recvCook county, Illinois, 1917.

N G. BLESSING.

